Stepping out of Phyllis’s sight, Nancy leaned against Ms. Arletti’s empty desk to think. She had to get the woman out of there so she could search her office.
As she thought, Nancy became aware of Walter Friedbinder’s voice from inside his office. “Sure, Mel. We’ll talk about it at the staff meeting before the board arrives. . . . Fine. See you then.”
Nancy stood up straight as an idea came to her. A second later she sneaked inside Walter’s office and closed the door behind her.
“What—?” he began when he saw her, but she silenced him by putting a finger to her lips. His gaze was openly dubious, but he waited while Nancy explained in a whisper what she wanted to do.
“So I call Phyllis in here for an emergency meeting, giving you a chance to search her office?” Walter’s intense blue eyes took on a pleased glint. “I’m sure I can handle that.”
“Great,” said Nancy, smiling at him. “I’ll wait out in the hallway until I hear her go into your office. If you can keep her here for ten minutes, that ought to be long enough.”
A few minutes later Nancy slipped into the assistant head’s office and stood with her back to the closed door. In a flash she scanned the room—two filing cabinets, desk, the computer station, a bookcase, and a coatrack with a raincoat on it. She decided to start with Phyllis’s desk, which was against the wall to the left of the door.
Sitting in the desk chair, Nancy glanced through the papers on the desktop, next to the half-eaten tunafish sandwich. They were nothing but notes on an upcoming parents’ visiting day. Next she pulled open the top desk drawer and sifted through a jumble of paper clips, rubber bands, and pens.
Nancy saw nothing that would link Phyllis to I. Wynn or the scam. Nor did she find any clues as to what “plan” Phyllis had meant during her phone conversation with Dana that Nancy had overheard.
A few times Nancy paused to listen but heard only the distant hum of Phyllis and Walter talking in the other office.
Next she tried the file. It was locked, but she easily jimmied it open using the lock-picking kit she always kept in her purse. What is this? she thought, her gaze lighting on a binder that was tucked in among the files. The spine was labeled “Computer Password Logbook.”
Great! Snatching up the binder, she opened it to the first page. It was a chronological listing of the computer passwords. Next to each password was the name of the student to whom it was assigned and the date the password was issued. All of the entries on the page were made in a neat, flowing script, probably Phyllis’s.
Nancy’s head snapped up as she heard a door open and then Phyllis’s voice, loud and clear. “Nonsense, Walter, I have the file in my office. It’ll just take a second to grab it.”
Nancy’s breath caught in her throat, and she slammed the book shut. She could hear Walter objecting, but Phyllis wasn’t paying any attention. Her heels clicked on the floor as she crossed the wooden anteroom.
Nancy checked frantically for somewhere to hide, but there was nothing—no closet, no enclosed space. Unless she could suddenly disappear, Phyllis was going to catch her red-handed!
Chapter Eight
Nancy didn’t have time to think about what to do. Holding the binder to her chest, she slid the file drawer shut, then rushed over to squat in the corner behind the door, on the far side of the desk. A split second later Phyllis’s clicking heels stopped outside the door and the knob was turned.
Nancy held her breath as the door swung in toward her. She stayed low so Phyllis wouldn’t see her silhouette through the frosted glass in the top half of the door. Please leave the door open, Nancy begged silently, and stay on the other side of the room!
She heard a drawer being opened and some papers being rustled over by the desk. Would Phyllis notice the unlocked file drawer or the missing binder?
Every muscle in Nancy’s body tensed as Phyllis’s shoes clacked back toward Nancy. The assistant head paused at the door a moment, then the door was closed and she was gone.